Octostrike
by AshcoForever
Summary: The sport of Turf War, loved by Inklings world wide. Whether its played in a fun and casual manner with friends or in strong competitive games to take over the leader boards with squads, squids and kids around the world love the sport, however, what happens when the sport of Turf War is torn apart BY Turf War? That's the unknown, and this is Octostrike.
1. Strike 0

I guess I never noticed it until now but have Inklings ever thought about the true meaning of turf war? Yeah, it's a fun game to play with our friends in a casual and competitive manner but it's the same process we use in serious fights and battles, those even as big like the great turf war. I'm not saying that this is some type of conspiracy to train solders to be ready for the next big war but the irony… no, not even the irony of it, just the distance in between the two is strange. They are the same exact, exact same thing just that one runs a much higher stake that could cost someone their life, yet everybody in turf war is like "But don't worry! We just respawn anyways" but no, in war, real war it could determine our races future. I never even thought it about that way myself. But now, I do. I have to, I'm not even sure if it was my choice or not anymore but none of that even matters now

Because now the games are over and the battle has sadly begun.

The air was fresh toady, that river water smell of camp Triggerfish filled my lungs as I transformed from a squid into inkling form, it was always so refreshing along with the sun that showered us from high above

" _Turf War: Cover the most ground in your teams ink to win!_ " the instructing voice echoed through the camps speakers as my team stood up straight, ready to burst out of spawn the second 'go' was said

" _Ready…_ " the whole team tensed up, I was sure we all felt it

" _GO!_ " all of us sprung out, I felt my friendly roller already pelting me in the back of the head with heady globs of ink, they didn't hurt of course but I didn't want to have to dig dried ink out my ears later

We all spilt into our own sectors, I kept straight, covering the ground with my splash-o-matic as I went along the route, I knew mid was going to be a pain thought, we didn't have a sniper so I was expecting to get overpowered

I slowly approached it, not noticing a soul around " _heh, maybe it's my lucky day!_ " I quickly dash through the middle, spraying only what I needed until I noticed a blue line in front of me

"Oh Crab!" I jumped back in a panic as a loud boom went off, I scrambled over the enemy ink in a rush, I hadn't realized they had a sniper of their own! I hadn't seen anyone else on the map!

I threw a suction bomb down on the spot I almost splatted at and moved on, I hoped that by the time I came back around they would have at least moved to a noticeable point that I could react at

Spraying down the corner and downhill parts were easy, I was glad the sniper wasn't too focused on that side, a poor mistake for him and his teammates would definitely get on him about it later

I decided to take my time and fill in the whole area, as I did I figured instead of letting the sniper shut down our team I would go in and take them down myself! It would require a little stealth and speed but anybody who knew me in turf wars definitely knew one thing

That was my type of battle style

I ran up on the supporting stitch floor after I was done, the whole area had been colored a burning orange ink and now it was time to take down that sniper, the only problem was when I got to the gates they were waiting for me

A rush of bombs came up from below the unlowered wall, I was glad I didn't get trapped in the swarm of them, I would have been splatted for sure. The first move must have been a fluke though, whoever I was facing wasn't too smart

They just shoot up string of Ink on my, trying to get me stuck long enough to hit me with a bomb barrage again but I would bob and weave, re spraying the ground

" _2:00 Remaining._ " The voice announced to the teams, I was about done messing with whoever it was, I gathered up a tank full of ink and was ready to lunge down until…

" _Woah! What in the world is that?_ " I heard an inkling say near the enemies spawn, at first I thought he was talking about me, I smirked thinking full of myself until I noticed the sniper stop shooting at me as well

I had no clue what they were looking at so I stayed still and listened in, they should stop reacting and notice if an inkling if they were talking about me

" _Well whatever it is it's gonna crash!_ WATCH OUT ORANGE TEAM!" I knew it wasn't me anymore. A female inkling had yelled out the warning from from the other team, it was landing somewhere on our side. But what was landing somewhat on our side?! I had no clue what was going on, it had to be something big yet from my partially enclosed position I couldn't see it!

Then, out of the slightest part of my peripherals I saw something, I saw "it". A metallic flash flew straight down into the area I had just colored, I had no time to react as it made its crash landing

The ground shook horribly as metal screeched with wood as the two collided, when the shaking stopped I heard mumbling going on from the other team, I even bet a couple of them didn't even know something was happening because they were all the way on the other side of the course but when I heard the talking they all sounded concerned and worried at what had just happened, and considering the location of where it did it was my job to go find out.

I walked out without thinking, I wanted to know what this thing was to! I slowly came to a clearing, still on the mesh netting that supported me from the unstable and possibly cracked ground below me, somehow the thing hadn't snagged onto it in its landing

Now having a complete view on the whole model of the object it was obviously some type of missile, which makes since do to it making impact and impaling the ground. I just studied my surroundings, I wasn't sure how I hadn't noticed but where it had landed was no longer my teams raging orange…

But a cool, pinkish cherry like magenta ink

It didn't take me long to figure out what being had that type of ink color but the time I did two doors launched off of rocket as more of the ink started to flow out of the contained area and spill all over my hard work, then three figure came out and talked among each other

"Fang? Are you harmed from the failed landing?" a tall red haired female said to one of her allies

"Nope! Not a scratch on me! Actually, I'm feeling even better than as I was before we got here!" another girl replied, she sounded peppy and much younger than the first voice

"That's good to hear, how about you Talon? Are you holding up good as well" another girl appeared from the other side of the missile, she was taller than both of the other two yet she looked much more timid as she walked over to them

"Nothing too serious, I'll be fine. Thank you for asking by the way" the one that seemed to be the head of the group nodded and took their place in front of the other two

"Thank goodness neither of you are harmed, that could have cost us our lives… in more ways than one." she let off a long sigh "Anyways, you all should still have full recollection of our mission, correct?" both of them replied

"You bet'cha!" the small one said as she bounced up and down, opposed to the tallest who just said "Yes." And they stood there waiting for something to come out of the commander's mouth "I won't waste anymore of your time then, go do what you have to do and meet back here when you're done or the time is up, do I make clear?"

In unison the two girls saluted their major "Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" however as they put their hands down one of them brought up quite a good point "Just one question Rossie!" turning to her lackey she gave the young girl an annoyed look

"You know not to call me by that stupid nickname… but yes, Fang?" she giggled a bit and looked around "Aren't there supposed to be Inklings around here? I haven't heard or seen one yet!" she just looked up at her leader for guidance and that she provided "Why yes, I understand what you mean, however if you would look a little harder I'm sure you will find them…"

And then she turned to me perfectly, as if she knew I was there watching them the whole time, even the crude smile she gave me said it all "But since you're so egger then you wouldn't mind taking out that one over there, would you?" all three of them turned to me now, I had the height advantage sure, but I was outnumbered by 3 to 1 "Of course I wouldn't! Come here squidy!"

I wasn't sure what to do, I could drag them down into the others base but that would only cause more problems, I might need help though. My mind raced with all these different possibilities but I never got to choose one, she was already in front of me

"Hiya little squid! Sorry I got to do this to ya!" she pulled out a Octoshot, and with her being closer than ever I had no doubt that these guys were Octarians, not that I had any before

"But orders are orders…" she smiled as her fangs lit up "and you are now mine." I looked at her for a bit, I was glad they only sent one of them and at that the one who seemed to be the youngest of the trio. She called me little but she was definitely smaller than me "Who are you calling little? You look younger than me."

She didn't like hearing that much but she didn't open fire on me "Yeah? So what if I'm younger, that doesn't mean I can't take you down by myself!" I nearly chuckled at her answer, I didn't say anything about her battle skills yet she backed off attacking me to protect her own character, I wasn't sure if it was out of insecurity or just ignorance

"I never questioned your fighting abilities, I just know for sure that I'm older than you." She gritted her teeth, I couldn't understand why she was getting so offended but I knew by the way she looked at me that this time she was going in to attack

"And like I said: So what? If it really matters to you that much then I'll show what being older will do for you right now!" she started to shoot at me, I quickly jumped out of the way and reequipped my splash-o-matic, I was going to have to fight

I had to give it to her, she was quick, I was constantly on the defensive, she was covering the small amount of ground that was around us and if things kept up this way I was going to be down for the count in no time ~ _Darn, she's way too fast for me!_ ~ an Idea popped into my head ~ _Or maybe she too fast here…~_

Quickly, I darted off the small platform to where the rocket had crashed, I had to quickly spray the ground but I didn't have as much time as I thought, the small Octoling pounced on me before I knew it

"Got'cha!" she tried to pin me to the ground in my own ink but it was just what I needed, I transformed into a squid and tagged her with a couple shots of ink as I jumped out the ink, she scurried back over to her own ink before getting a chance to retaliate, the tides were starting to turn, and they were in my favor

I stood in my puddle waiting for her to counter attack, I had my own little section inked up now and I was ready for any attack she was going to throw at me "You, you want to do this the hard way squidy, huh?" I heard her voice but I didn't know where it came from

"I didn't want to kill you, I was just going to capture you and bring you home with us! But… it seems that you don't want to go home…"

I wasn't sure if the girl was being serious or just messing with me, her voice sounded sincere enough "Oh well, I'm sorry squidy" a splat bomb flew at me from the other side of the rocket, I quickly moved out the way "bye"

I dodged it but suddenly a plethora of them started to swarm from the air, it was a bomb rush! I was surprised I dodged as many as I did but there was no more orange ink left, and still dozens of bombs around me

It knew it was it for me if I couldn't escape, I tried my hardest to run…

" _1:00 Remaining! The gates have been let down"_ but a bomb landed square next to me…

Everything was getting blurry and the explosions continued going off and off, over and over again, I wondered if I was actually going to die here…

And then the bomb went off. However, when it went off it didn't hurt, at all, the sounds turned into echo like fades and the space around me seemed to enclose, when I opened up my eyes I realized why…

"Bristle!?" A female inkling stood next to me with her blaster, she had activated her bubbler, but this inkling female wasn't any normal inkling, she was my turf war partner and my best friend.

She looked down at me "So, you gonna do that to me again?" I looked up at her and questioned what she was talking about

"The other Octolings are on the other side of the map, luckily, our team mates are holding them off there, however, there was no other way for me to get to you. I wouldn't have been able to make it through on the other side because the Octolings would just take me out and go back to fighting the others…"

I notice her clench her Blaster a little harder "All I could do is wait for the gates to fall… and watch you battle… "her" yourself, alone…" I felt guilty all of a sudden, though knew not a single bit of it was my fault.

"Sorry about that" I scratched my tentacles "I guess I should have just jumped down on your side, we could have dealt with her together" I said as I got up, she gave me a faint smile and replied "Yeah, you should have, speaking of which…"

Our bubblers still protected us, Bristle went onto the other side of the rocket and grabbed the Octoling by her armors, from the look on her face she didn't even seem to notice that Bristle had jumped down and join me

"H-Hey! Where did you come fro- _AHH!_ " she threw her straight into her own ink, unlike me she didn't swim away and instead stayed in her Octoling form, face down

"Hey. What do you think you're doing here, huh?" Bristle's voice turned harsh, she glared at the Octoling as they turned back to face her, she must have smashed her really hard into the ground because her visor cracked "W-were… on a missi-"

Bristle pointed her blaster in the Octolings face "Rhetorical question. So basically, I. Don't. Care." The Octoling squirmed into a ball, she looked around fraticly but before she could swim away I covered the path leading to more of her ink

"This is a game, were not in the middle of some battle ground are we? So when you get back to wherever you came from go tell all your little friends to back off" I actually started to feel bad for the Octoling, she looked as if she was in complete fear by bristle, shivering and all, but still… It felt real good to put the girl in her place

"And if there is a next time…" Bristle grinned at her "Pick on someone your own size" she shot the blaster as the Octoling burst into blue, she gave off a small squeal before being splatted.

"Come on, Bris, we gotta go help the other too" she turned around and nodded at me as we went back up the met nesh flooring to go join the others to help fight off the rest of the Octarians

But something didn't feel right, turning back I caught my eye as we were about to jump down to the other side, the soul of the Octoling Bristle just splatted didn't fly back home, instead it circled right back around to the rocket, it must have thought we could no longer see her and she was in the clear

"…No… No way." Bristle turned around to me to see what up "Huh? What's up-" she didn't finish, we both watched as the Octoling soul went back down into the rocket and respawned right there, inside the missile

"…" I didn't say anything at first but I knew what we had to do "We have to get out of here, now!" Bristle turned back around and ran next to me, we jumped over to her teams spawning area, I had to clean it up a bit so I could stand

"A portable spawner? If that means what I think it means then every time we kill them they can just come back in no time, right?" I didn't know the answer, I think we were just taking shots and right now it was for the best

"That's what we have to assume right now, we have to go get the others. Do you know how much longer we have until the match ends?" she looked off in the others direction "It should be 30 seconds or so now but the speakers haven't said anything" I sucked my teeth, we should be able to hold them off

"Okay, and there is no other way we can currently leave?" Bristle shook her head "No, not unless they announce that an emergency is underway or something-" " _Match discontinued: An emergency has occurred. Please super jump to your spawn and prepare for transport."_

I gave the faint smile "We'll what do ya know? Just in the Knick of time, huh?" she did the same "You got that right" we listened to the faint cheers of our teammates from the other side of the map

"Let's get out of here before they try to hitch a ride, I'll see you on the flip side!" I quickly bobbed my head

"Alright, see you then!" we both super jumped into the sky, I noticed all my teammates doing the same as some of blue teams passed me as well

Suddenly, as I soared through the air I felt a sharp nip at my right arm along with a slap, when I turned to it I noticed the younger Octoling girl flying right above me, she smirked with her cracked visor nearly flying off her face

She just wasn't good at dealing the major blows, I rubbed my arm as I prepared to fall in but this unsettling feeling rose in me as I joined them, why was she smiling so much when she had barley hit me at all?

I wanted to blow it off as nothing, after all, it's not like my muscles tensed up or I suddenly went into major pain, the only thing that happened was a young, cocky, Octoling girl smiled at me

And most likely failed her mission as well

I was surprised, nearly all of our spawn ground was covered into the Octoling ink, I was just glad nobody on my team had gotten hurt since all of them were at least able to jump back to spawn

Nobody said anything as we landed and waited to be brought back home, we all just looked at each other, two of my team mates were hugging, the must have been scared out of their minds. Me and the other Inkling just stood there staring at them, quiet and waiting to go back home

But little did I know the impact of all that. What had happened today wasn't going to make history, it was going to change our future and world as we knew it, forever.

" _All team members accounted for. Transporting back to Inkopolis Tower_ "

 **AN:** Heyo guys and gals! I don't have too much to go over however I would like to have a small talk before anything else happens with this _"Series"_ so to say. To begin, if you are reader from the Ink Activated series I would like to announce that Splatoon Ink Actiavted does still take high priority over this Fanfiction right here as of right now. second thing I would like to ask is if you all like the first person view of the character, I haven't tried this in Fanfiction previously so I gave it a shot and I want to see how you all react to it. Last and most important is if you all currently have interest in where the plot is going, believe it or not this was actually supposed to be a one shot but I decided to dig a little deeper and I found that it might be able to bloom into something much more, Well, I guess that all for now, if your from Ink Activated I'll see you in the next chapter but if you are new then I'll seeya next time!


	2. Ironic

5 Months after the previous events… _(5 Months Later…)_

Taking a walk through Inkopolis wasn't too bad every now and then, there was so much other stuff than turf war, since it consumed the city attention

Checking the time I dug into my pocket and took out my phone, it was 12:34. Huh, the irony.

I had agreed to meet up with Bristle at lunch, later on we had plans to go play some turf war but with the current maps being no all that good we had time to spare until the next rotation

The sun made the Ink in my body nearly boil, today was a hot day without a doubt and it sure didn't help that I was actually starting to get hungry

I must have jinxed myself, my stomach growled the second I thought about I was hungry.

I wanted food- no. I _"needed"_ food. Before I could complain anymore my phone buzzed in my hand, someone had texted me

It was Bris _"Where are you at? Gonna take all day getting here I see. Hurry up if you can, I really need to talk to you."_

Sighing, I slid my phone back down into my pocket without replying, I started to stretch out and loosen up "I'm going to regret this." And I started up a sprint

Getting to the fast food shop took about 4 minutes but I was out of energy. I took deep breathes of air while I opened the door to the shop

I was greeted by a strong waft, a sweet, deep fried snack or desert, I had no clue what it was but I didn't even need to see it to know I wanted some. I looked around in the direction it blew from but instead of the dish my eyes caught something else

It was Bristles hand, calling me over to a side table, which was basically a small table connected to the wall with a small lamp, napkin holder and other needs

The point was that it was a two person table, it looked like we would be by ourselves for this meal

"Hey, that's a new record for you Radia." she said as I sat down in front of her "You made it here in a total of approximately…" she poked around on her phone as if she doing an equation

"2 Lightyears… and a half" she smiled at me half seriously " . Classic, Bristle" I was overflowing with sarcasm "Hilarious."

She did a small bow and came back up, just in time for the waiter to come by and ask to take our orders "Hello and good morning, are you two ready to order?" we both nodded and he pulled out a small note book "Okay then, I'm ready when you are."

Bristle barely had to open her menu before she started calling out what she wanted "I'll have Puffer Poki's and~ give me some fries and a burger." The guy wrote it all down on a small pad "Original or Sweet Kelp fries?" he asked in returned but Bristle expected it "Original, please."

He turned to me, I was somewhat caught off guard since I had been starring at their conversation and hadn't checked the menu at all "And what will you be having Sir?" I quickly dashed through the listing of foods looking for something to order, I would have took my time if we didn't have things to do after this

"Um, uh, just give me Red Kelp fries and a double burger. Oh! And can you add Mayo on it as well?" the waiter stopped writing my order down and gave me that stare for a second, he judged me right on the spot, unmoving and unblinking.

"… I'll ask them to add it on in the back." He finished writing "Anything else, drinks perhaps?"

That however was set, I had known my drink before I even got inside the place and I was positive that Bris knew what she was getting too

 _"_ _Ruption, with an additive of strawberry, orange and cherry, as in actually add a cherry inside the drink, please!"_ we recited it at the same time, both staring at the Waiter as he looked down at both of us, shocked and confused

He shrugged his shoulders and wrote it down, I was glad that he actually remembered all of it, normally we had to tell it back to the waiter one by one "Okay then, I'll be back with you order in about…" he looked at the tablet "14 minutes or so?"

"Okay!" Bris said as she sent him off with a smile and he went on his way. I rolled my eyes after he left, he had some attitude to judge the people who are basically filling out his paycheck

"Can you believe that guy?" I said to Bris in a lower voice "I can understand if he did it in the kitchen with the cooks but he stood there and stared at me, talk about nerve!"

A female waiter came around this time, she placed our drinks down on the table. They might not have the best employees but their service was top notch, It had barley been a second since the guy left!

Bris tilted her head as she slid her drink closer to her "What are you talking about?" I guess she didn't really pay attention to my order, she kept looking down at her phone anyway

"My order! Just because I wanted to get mayo on my on my burger the guy looks at me as if I've lost it!" she looked at me, half laughing "What?! You put mayo on your burger?! Since when?"

I rolled my annoyance into a sigh, it wasn't going the way I hoped "No! That's not the point! Well, it is... But not the format you're talking about!" she laughing and gave me a smiling look of disbelief "But seriously, who puts mayo on their burger?"

Great. She was on this random guy's side. Double the judgement from some random waiter who could tell some people about it and care less later and my friend who could spread it like wild fire among people I know.

Keeping my mouth closed and getting rid of the subject seemed like the best decision "* _sigh*_ just… forget about it." I looked back up at her, ready for the topic at hand "You said something about wanting to talk to me in your text, right?" Bristle had calmed down by now and was taking a soft sip from her soda

" _Mmhhm!_ " she mumbled without taking her mouth of the straw, I gave her an annoyed look "Well you sounded kinda urgent about it, is everything okay?" she stopped drinking and pushed the drink away, she looked up at me, semiserious

"Today is our last required log in for the attack." Yeah, it was as I thought. Ever since the Octolings fell in on that missile, me, Bristle and the rest of our teams have had to go to these meeting like conferences, to explain what happened to people who wanted to know and learn more about the events from other sources

It was originally a volunteering program but after the attack we basically were forced to go, it was for the better of not only us but everyone else "Well that's nice to hear" I said it, but I wasn't truly sure if I meant it

"Yeah, kinda. I get this bitter sweet feeling when thinking about it. The information they have there is really interesting… Oh well, it's not like we can't go back anytime we want too" she went back at her drink

"So, who's going today as our rep?" also, after the first meeting with everyone, since me and Bristle had been in the same area we only have to send one of us instead of both of us each time, it saves time and hassle on both parts. The same was likely for the other teammates "Me"

I looked up at bristle, her answer was so quick and sharp, she had even stopped drinking "Huh, you really want to go, don't you? I told you, I have no problem with tagging along with you, I actually wouldn't mind going" but she shook her head

"But if you just go out into turf war and start playing, you can get warmed up and I can just jump in later after I'm done, with a lot less of a problem. Either way, you already went for the last 2 months, I still have one more to even it all out" she was right, but no one ever said we had to split up the months evenly. She gave me a advantaged smile and said one more thing "You're not getting out of this one, sorry"

Technically, I was trying to get in but I just kept quiet until I gave off another sigh "Fine, fine. Sorry for giving you such a bother about just helping you out…" she gave me a sly look, I was obviously being sarcastic, and it was feeling like one of those days after all

"Aw, don't worry about it! After all, I get to tell everybody about how you cried like a baby and I had to come down and save your life. Trust me, they love the story and it never seems to get old" we both stared at each other with gritting smiles

"So that's why you want to go back so bad, huh?" she didn't say anything back, just smiling while still drinking her soda

"Annnd here is your order!" the speed in which the waiter had dashed in caught me off guard, there was no way 15 minutes had passed by that quickly? He placed down the trays of food in front of us, it steamed, once again with top notch service.

Before he even placed down all the food something caught my nose, it was the sweet smell I had smelt when I walked into the restaurant, I looked around at the tables surrounding tables then noticed then noticed that the smell was right under my nose, literally

A curved platter with small little spiky brown doughnut like pastries were on bristles tray, she noticed me looking at them

"What's up? You smell the Puffer Poki's?" so that's what they are called, the name dose make since, after all, they do look like little pufferfish

"Yeah, I had smelt them when I came in before, they look delicious" I stared at them but when I looked up I saw Bristle with a devious smile

"Want one?" she said, but it just felt too innocent but I decided to take the bait anyway

"… Sure" She picked up the small little dough ball and held it out to me, I was about to take it until she took it and bit it in half, causing more steam to rise from the fluffy core, as she chewed her smile almost turned to laughter and she held it out to me once again

I took it, she kept on smiling as I held it in my hand, staring at it, then back up at Bristle who was smirking her whole entire face off. However, I was going to get the last laugh

Carefully, I dropped my hands under the table as I stared at the treat, I then ripped a piece from the farthest back part of where her lips met the fluffy cake but left enough to make it looked as if it wasn't tampered with, the rest of the scraps were dropped on my lap

Now I lifted my hands back above the table, the heat had started to die down from the little doughnut so it was now or never "Down the hatch it goes."

As I dropped it in my mouth I watched Bristles eyes grow wide and her cheeks nearly burst into a flood of red, the tides had turned as I felt my smile grow so wide it actually hurt my face, not to mention the flavor of the cake was delicious. As I ate it and looked back at her she just gave me a semi shocked look, she didn't expect me to do it and that was the richest part of it all

Then it turned back to a sly smile " _Haha_ , wow, I did not think you were one of those Radiant" she poked her tongue out in a mocking yet cute way, placing her finger on it

"You? A spit tasting pervert? Huh, guess I never would have thought it…" I laughed a bit and replied back "Would you just eat your food already so we can get out of here?" on second thought, the way I phrased and said the sentence was very, very bad and I'm positive she picked up on it

Bristle changed her face into an innocently shocked look and fluttered her eyes, looking away, I tried to ignore her but only ended up staring at her "Whatever you say… big brother." I felt myself flushing in embarrassment, she had picked up on it as I thought

Replying though gritted teeth I held back a stubborn laugh "Oh, shut up"

We had started to eat our food and it once again felt like seconds before we were done, Bristle continued to taunt me with the Puffer Poki's and then each time I took a bite into me Hamburger she would say something like "Mayo Boy" or "Cream Kid", it was annoying but as long as she kept the joke between us It didn't really bother me. At last it was time for us to leave, we both approached the counter, paid and then headed on our way

Nearly as soon as I got outside I felt the coolness of the store vanish of my skin "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it was boiling out here." Bristle said, shielding her eyes "Yeah, but now's not the time to be talking about this, you have to get going" I took out my phone, forcefully shielding the sun away with my hand to read the clock "Its 12:53"

Her eyes snapped open as she just turned to me "What? Already?" I nodded as she spent no time putting her visor on and adjusted it to fit her properly

"I'll see you later Radia!" yelling back to me from down the street, she waved as people passed by her but I could make out her figure perfectly

Today she was wearing something different then her normal style, her diamond like turquoise tentacles matched her top which was colored in a cool purple, blue and sky blue in multiple layers, it even had an added little frilly part at the bottom that made it look like as if it was going into a skirt. Her shoes were Zombie High Horses, multicolored with mostly the same as her top and though she wasn't wearing it now it was either the visor she already had on or her pilot goggles, they illuminated her orange eyes but she rarely wore them the proper way

Yeah, all of that made up one heck of a girl. I've known her for nearly the longest and our friendship has been a ride of its own but it stayed strong through it all

"Huh?" My phone went off in my pocket " _Maps changing soon, head to Booyah Base!_ "

I kicked my shoes on the ground, I didn't feel like running back. Turning into a squid I changed up my ink and shot off into the sky, super jumping to Booyah Base instead

It's only took a minute or two of free flying over Inkopolis, when I landed I rolled into a sprint, people staring at me as I dashed into the tower, not wasting a second

" _8/8. Lobby Filled. BATTLE TIME!"_ I had dashed in at the perfect time, at just the right time to enter the upcoming match and in no time we were transported to the match

The stage smelled fresh and when I opened my eyes I was greeted with… Camp Triggerfish. Huh, ironic.

Actually, this day was full of Irony, the time when I went to lunch with Bris, the fact that the main scent that filled my nose in the store was the same as what she was going to order, the drink doesn't truly count but now this. The same day that we were attacked and the map just so happens to be same map…

Irony sure has a way of amusing itself, and I won't lie, it's actually a bit funny to me as well

" _2_ …" I jolted at the noise, I was barely focused on the match at hand! On the notice I properly gripped my Splash-O-Matic and focused in

"1…"

 _"_ _GO!"_ and we all flew forward into the air, dashing all over the field to take out ground and truly make it ours

"Alright guys, lets show them what we've go-" but I was cut off by something loud, something that sounded so familiar

The sound of metal and wood crashing into each other in utter disharmony, but not only one but multiple

I whipped around and turned towards the direction from where the sound came from, it was actually our spawn, but when I looked at it… It looked nothing like our spawn

It now looked bent out of shape, with a torch like metallic figure sticking out of it. I had no doubt that it was out of order and we would most likely no longer be able to use it, but the most disturbing part was what stood on top of it all

The figure was surrounded by uprising steam and smoke of our Ink color but the sun revealed that something stood in the colorful mist and dew, a feeling like no other welled in the depths of my stomach as realization now took hold

I head a sweet laughing from the mist, a metallic rimmed and magenta ink filled looking spalt bomb flew down in front of my now aware team, we all lunged backwards to dodge the radius, one of them tripped over but they didn't get up before the entity jumped down into the ink and made their appearance

"Well then. It looks like my eyes didn't deceive me." She looked at me, her metallic goggles staring at me and my eyes trying to make this all into disbelief. It was the Octoling leader from the last time

"Talk about Irony. Don't you say, Inkling?"

 **AN:** Hello again guys! I keep having this problem of writing longer chapters then I intend to, I'm not too sure why this is happening but I have a slight idea on why. So this chapter was somewhat complicated, for one I wanted to introduce more of Bristles character type since the events of this chapter aren't in a major chaos and panic so she can be shown as who she really is, same with Radiant _(Radiant is the main character, otherwise known as the person who is talking, just in case you didn't catch on :3)_ though his was much more lacking. So! After this reading this chapter what do you think? Sorry if the plot seems a bit rushed but I don't want to waste too much time, in chapter delaying. This chapter would have been split up into 3 with the appearance of the Octoling squad leader being its who other chapter but I figured why not put a bit of interest on into it. Okay, I'm done talking now! As always thank you for readying and I'll see you guys next time!


	3. (Sur)Prize

We all just stood there, staring at the Octarian in emotions ranging from confusion to fear, it didn't take long for the rest of me to start questing who the octopus was talking to

I knew it was me, I just didn't say anything.

"Oh come on now, I know you have something to say." The Octarian said as they started to slowly walk towards me

I held my ground however, not letting the Octarian see any sign that I was going to back down, the rest of them however back away slightly

For some reason I felt responsible for this so I couldn't blame them or call them cowards, not that I would anyway, Though it still felt like all of this was on me

"This was not our plan, my plan at the least. The chances of running into you again though makes most of this… worth it"

I gripped my splash and raised it up to her, only holding it to show that she wouldn't shut me down and if I had to, was willing to fight

"…Hm." She chuckled "At no point have I showed any sign of harming you, touching you or even disrespecting you. I'm not even holding a grudge for what you did last time."

What I did last time? What was she talking about? Running away? There would be no way that 3 Octolings would be able to take down 8 Inklings, not unless they are all trained as highly advance assassins in the style of turf war

"You seemed confused, don't you recall splatting Fang? Now, I have no doubt that she gave you a run for your money but still, splatting her? If anything I should be angry at you, but I'm not. I'm just saying hi and you are ready, just waiting for your chance to splat me"

"Your allies had just as good of chance to kill me as I had to kill them, she started the attack and I… we ended it" I was through with waiting for her to go on and on, I assumed the Fang person she talked about was the girl I faced off with, and how Bris came and got me out of that pickle

"Yet you couldn't spare her? If you faced off with her then I'm sure you saw her perfectly. She is young, only but a child and you still had to take her out with maximum brutality. You just couldn't find another way could you?"

"Why should her age matter in all of this? She is a solider as any of you are! Who would go and send someone who can't hold their own ground into battle! It's just like throwing away money but more valuable, a Life! She gave me a good fight and either way it's not like it even matters" I looked up to our dysfunctional spawning pad, it was crushed by a more advance looking Octarian rocket then the last one I saw

I pointed up to it, the Octarians gaze followed the direction "She respawned right in front of us, from inside that rocket thing, it shouldn't have mattered if I splatted her once, twice or 100 times over! She would just be able to come back" I took a silent breather as the Octarian turned back around and faced me

"So why would it even matter if I splatted in the first place?!" the Octarian just stared at me, I stared back at her, the river waves were silently sloshing as we kept our eyes on each other, she turned to the right and looked over to the gates

I couldn't see it but it felt as if her sight was staring off into something that I couldn't understand "You're right." The answer surprised me "I guess it doesn't matter, now does it..."

She turned back to me "The point however was your aggressiveness, and how even when I was having a serious conversation with you, 1 on 1" she looked down at my Splash-O-Matic

"You had to hold me at gun point to what I can assume was fearing for your own life" I listened to her words and thought them over, was she trying to present me as the bad guy?

Sure she was right about the offensiveness but the reason was way off "I'm not fearing for my life" I waved my behind me "I'm just making sure you don't hurt anyone, and I'm willing to lay down a lot to make sure you don't"

She just looked at me and started laughing calmly into her hand "I'm not the only one you know"

And then it hit me, I didn't hear one of these things fall, I could have sworn I heard 3, maybe even more but without a doubt three. If there were more Octolings and we haven't seen them on our side…

"What's going on with the other team?" the Octarian didn't say anything, they just smiled at me and stared at me with the little pink dots for her eyes

"I'm sure they are fine, but to be completely honest with you, I have no clue" this Octarian was starting to get me upset, they could be in serious danger right now, all of us could be

"But I do have something else to tell you Inkling." She got even closer to me this time, her armor almost hitting my gun "I like you."

I was lost for a bit, I wasn't sure how she meant what she said so I fell back a tiny bit to get some room between her "You are interesting to talk to. Unlike your friends hiding behind you, scared that at any second I would splat them but you took your placement and didn't falter. Well until just now that is."

I didn't give her the reply she wanted back "Stop wasting time. What are you here for and why are you attacking us" I felt like that hurt her, or maybe it was just me, With her glasses on it was hard to see her real emotions apart from what was hidden behind the metal mask

 _"_ _At least I tried…"_ she mumbled something under her voice but I couldn't hear it. "Look, if you just give me an Inkling we will be on our way" she looked among us and noticed the Inkling who had fallen before, she laid in our ink looking at the Octarian in fear, when she saw her turn towards her she truly looked terrified

"I wouldn't mind her" she pointed to the Inkling and I jumped over in front of her "Then you better be ready to fight for her, and you know what? How about we change the prize to me?" I felt my blood starting to race, it felt strange, in a bad way but felt good, in a really good way

The Octarian smiled and nodded "Sure, I'll take that deal, and you along with it" she took out what most Octarians use, an Octoshot and jumped back from me, I backed up myself until I was met with the others on my team

"Guys, while I fight her you all go out and see if the others are okay, alright?" it took a bit for an answer, evenrually the whole team nodded but before they had a chance two redish tentacles came out of nowhere with some type of eye scope, they locked onto the team with snipers as the Octarian sucked her teeth

" _Tsk Tsk,_ don't try anything like that now, all of you will stay right where we can see you"

My teammates now stood spread apart, getting out of the way of our battle grounds as we both prepared to go at it with everything we had."You know you are our enemy, right?" the Octarian looked up at me and smiled

"Yes. Yes I do." She flicked her Octoshot in her hand letting it twirl "On your call"

I was allowed to move first, maybe a disadvantage but if I could land the first blow it would be worth it without a doubt. We stood each other off, staring and both awaiting for my key movement

The waves fell one last time and then I lunged forward in an orange dash of ink, the Octarian spent no time waiting, she quickly started over to her right in which I followed her to jump hook her

I rose up at a crazy speed and started to spray at her but she wasn't there anymore, in a panic I turned around and noticed her behind me, she started to shoot but luckily for me I was ready

With hard bobs and weaves I dodged most of the ink, a lot still got me, good to. In reaction to reclaiming land I threw down a suction bomb and dashed back in, I was instead greeted with several Octo ink pellets

I didn't back out, I ran up to her and fought neck and neck, one wrong move and everything would be over. My spraying speed was a great counter to her mobility but her range was enough to hold me off from killing her or getting myself killed instead, it was quite the game

Finally after continues shots from everywhere I noticed her firing calmed down, this was the time I had to take her down and possibly my only chance

I felt my body drag into a blur, I started to swing and splat all of the ground around her until I noticed she was finally stuck, she now panicked and shot the ground from under her, leaving her back completely open, I started to swim as fast as I can and then jump into the air for the finishing attack

But before I could I felt to planks land firmly on my stomach. Keeping me from landing, she who had placed her boots on my chest and threw me back, it didn't hurt but right after I heard a splatbomb go off

It came from the direction that I was about to engage, the exact point, and it wasn't my friendly orange either, it was the marron pink

I got up and took back to my position as the Octarian stared back at me, the whole area I had trapped her in now covered in her ink, none of us showed much emotion but both of us were somewhat tired

I couldn't figure out why she kicked me back, most likely for defense but it's not like she ran back and finished me off

"You- _*Huff*_ you are pretty good…" I said through stuttered breathing, this fight really pushed my limits

"Thank you. It would be a lie to say that you aren't one as well." She didn't present it much in her tone but the way she carried her body said that she had been pushed to the limits

I fell down to one knee to get some breath, I didn't want to get back up, but form the side of my ear I heard someone, calling out to me

"Come on! You can do it! We all believe in you!" I turned to see the girl who I took the place of calling out to me, cheering and egging me on. The laser was still held over her, planted directly on her head right between her eyes, the eyes that had her orange tinted tears hanging from the brim

I started to think back to when I got attacked, if she would have took me out I would have died, right? The ink they shot me with didn't hurt a ton but I would have died, right? My mind started dashing around again, trying to find an answer or something but I just stopped it all, it was a waste a time

Because I was not about to let any of my team find out for themselves

I got up off my knee and stood tall, the Octarian stood up a bit taller themselves as we both stared at each other and slung the opposing ink off our guns

"Let's end this." I said with a ready smile

The Octarian copied it on her own face "I agree"

Then we both went for a mad dash at each other, ready for the finish. For better or for worse this was it, the final attack.

" _LAUNCH DOWN NOW, GO GO GO!_ " right before me an orange splash wall fell down, separating me and the Octoling, an Inkling fell down next to me with what looked like a .96 Gal

"You are to stand where you are, Octarian. Do not move unless you are instructed to do so." His voice was calm and rugged, hidden behind a black and neon mask as he talked

The Octoling didn't seemed to be fazed at all, she just dropped her arms from her battling position and waited

I turned to the rest of my team in a panic, to my relief they were all fine, a 2 more squids were protecting them, one holding a fancy squiffer and the other with a sick looking blaster but everyone was protected by a bubbler that had been activated

"Come on, kid. We don't have much more time to feed off without someone here getting hurt" I looked over at him, he was staring up at 2 helicopters above us with one large flat ship like figure floating in the middle

"Super Jumps are set for the Helicopters, let's get going!" and as the words left his mouth he was gone, I watched him fly up but before I could do the same I looked over at the Octarian I was facing

She just looked at me, holding her Octoshot at her side with no attempt to break down the wall or go around it, just staring as I looked back at her as well

 _"_ _Do you understand now? The chances of you beating us…"_ But I didn't say that. I didn't say anything. I wasn't sure how I felt about her, she wasn't good, but her intentions of doing harm didn't seem the same as what I had heard of other Octarians, not at all.

Her stare turned into a smile "I know" she caught me off guard, did she… did she know what I was thinking? I didn't say anything, I just stared and eventually I even showed a little smile, confused and scared but a smile

I changed form and started to charge up my super jump, before I launched I noticed two laser fly over to me, I couldn't see much of what was going on after that but milliseconds before I flew off I heard her say one last thing "See you later, Inkling."

I didn't exactly pay attention as I flew up but when I looked up and saw the blades of the helicopter I freaked out, luckily I noticed that we jump zoom up and into the Helicopter instead of going to high and crashing in

"And that's 8. Do we have a full count?!" a small pause was taken as multiple Inklings around us started to talk and count all of us from helicopter to helicopter "Full count confirmed"

"Alright, move out!" And we were moving, I sat back and thought about the events as the Helicopter knocked the breeze around through the open doors

I finally looked down at the whole field, it was nearly all magenta. Little metallic flares shined in my eyes as we flew over, I only assumed that it was from the Octolings that laid below us

And there were a lot of flares.

As we flew away I couldn't shake the feeling that the Octarian was still standing there, looking off at the same spot I had saw her. None of that went as I would have expected, today did not turn out the way I expected it to

We got back to the outskirts of Booyah base after about a 30 minute ride, transporting was really efficient in these situations. As we landed I noticed a small greeting of people, mostly people who seemed to be with this force were standing around, awaiting for our arrival

On landing we all hopped out the Helicopters, most of us were over out little pities and on to bigger questions, most of them just being " _Why?!"_ but I don't think anyone currently had that answer

As I walked through the crowds of people I felt someone tug at hoddie, I turned around in mid thought to be met with concerning gaze, it was the girl from earlier

"Th-Thank you for earlier..." she looked directly in my eyes, I could tell that this had stirred her up by the whole thing, she reminded me of one of the people from the first attack

"Its fine, seriously, don't worry about it at all. You just happened to get the short end of the stick in that situation" I gave her the best smile I could, it was enough to make that look in her eyes fade as she gave me a smile back herself

The tides of the crowd tore us apart and we took off our separate ways, I let my mind fill with questions again until I split off from the semi large swarm of people, leaving me in a clearance of space

I realized we had landed on a roof top, I wasn't sure how I hadn't noticed before, but as I stared off I noticed another inkling standing in front of me

I just looked at her and she stared back at me, she seemed normal and I knew I looked fine, other than the Octo ink that stained my clothes

She slowly started to walk towards me, and it seemed to turn into a run but slowed itself back down to a walk until she was right in front of me, for some reason none of us said a single thing as we stood there in silence

"I'm sorry." Bristle finally said "I couldn't get back to you… and warn you in time."

"News spread that fast?" it was my first reaction I was confused as we went back into silence " _I'm sorry, I'm_ … look, It's not your fault, not one bit, don't go blaming yourself on this, okay?"

She didn't say anything and had looked towards where the helicopter had flew In from, though it felt like she wanted to, I knew that something was eating at her, maybe it was that if she would have let me go with her…

She looked back at me "We have a problem now, don't we?" I nodded my head softly "… Then let's get going"

She turned around and started to head down to the stairs, I didn't fully follow her though "Wait! I still have a couple questions. About all these guys and how they knew what was going on! I don't even know who these people are, what happened on the other team's side and what is actually going on!"

Bristle turned around to me, she stood in silence for a bit then replied "Some of the things you said, the obvious things, we have answers to… but in the big picture…

We have no idea what is going on"

That made me feel the truth of this all, it was an attack, and it had to have been intended. Everything was completely lost and nothing made sense but if I didn't make sense of it then I'm sure I would be lost in it

"Well then we need to start somewhere"

I walked back to the crowd of people and went to talk with my teammates and others in the game, including whoever had come to pick us up, I didn't expect to put anything together, I was only gathering the lost puzzle pieces

Bristle watched as I walked through the crowds, she walked back a bit a stood next to someone, it was only then that I noticed she had come in with somebody else as well

They looked like an older squid with some strange get up, he gazed into the crowd, observing, he looked somewhat stressed and as if he had a lot on his mind. He also seemed as if he wasn't trying to be seen

It would only add onto my questions for later

Right now I needed as much information I could get, because though everything was fine for now as this rate

It wouldn't wait forever

 **AN:** Hello again guys and _(Though its a bit late)_ HAPPY SPLATOON 1 YEAR INK-IVERSARY! Yeah, it's hard to believe that we have come such a long way, whether you play the game or are just part of the community it sure has been a trip! So, on note of the chapter! This was actually laying around for a while in wait of check to get it going, which was finally done! Sorry about the wait! So the Octarian leader, huh? It just seems like as soon as things get good something happens or somebody steps in to save the day, oh well, Luck only last for so long. That's enough of me talking, so how did you guys like the chapter? Good? Bad? Anyways, if would like to, leave a review but I hope you all enjoyed and see you next time!


	4. Surroundings

"And that is all that you say you saw of their 'tech'?" An older Inkling with glasses holding a tablet asked me, I nodded and replied "As far as I saw for any advancements that weren't already listed, yes, the rocket was the only unusual object there"

He took down notes, Bristle sat next to me as I was being interviewed, I was easy to tell that she still was in that mood of guilt, and it seemed to be spreading onto me "Cheer up Bris, seriously. None of this is your fault. You're putting way to mu-"

"I'm sorry, Radiant, but we need to get this done as quickly as possible, may we move onto the next question?" though he did cut me off it was hard to be mad at him, his manners made him respectable, and the topic only helped him win me over even more

"…Yes, sir" he gave me a strange smile, as if he gained the dominance he wanted over me while respecting my answer "Grand, now this is the last question…" I noticed everyone else in the room perk up, we weren't the only 3 after all, there were at least a good 18 of us in total and these were only the officials that needed the information

"The Octarians, any and all behavior please" this had always been the last question, most likely because it can range from minutes to 1 or 2 hours just explaining a couple of abnormal Octarians, I didn't understand why, weren't they just like Inklings? "Um…"

"Anything at all that you found to be the slightest bit strange?" I thought about her, the Octarian commander, as far as I was knew she was different but nothing that wasn't already documented or anything good to document about her anyway, the other group actual faced off against her and with more visuals then I have I'm sure they fully detailed her

"No, nothing that shouldn't have already been recorded" he put a quick scribble down and read over his paper"…Well alright then, if that's all you have to give us then have a good day, Radiant. I can't tell you the chances of this happening to you again… it's quite-"

"Ironic?" he looked up at me as I cut him off "Yeah, trust me, I know…" I guess my voice started to trail off as if something was wrong, the man looked at me and smiled "We appreciate your help Mister Radiant, everyone does" though I wasn't feeling bad I could see why that comment could make me maybe feel a tiny bit better, I only hoped it would somehow make Bristle feel a bit better

In seconds everyone around the room was talking over there notes, the usual mumbling that was heard after me or bristle told our stories of the original attack. A chair rubbed against the floor next to me, I looked over to see that Bristle had gotten up "We should get going, Raid. They have a lot of work to do…"

I looked up at her and she looked down at me, she just didn't seem like the Bristle I talked to earlier that day, I hoped she was okay

"Yeah, you're right…" I looked back at them, they were all carrying on with what they needed to attend and us sticking around would only get in their way "Let's get going" I said as I pushed out my chair and headed for the door, Bristle opened up the door and walked out, holding it for me to hurry along

I noticed that she was actually holding the door open with her tentacle, it was an advantage that females had over males sure but none of them ever actually used them to do physical activ…

I stopped and stared at her tentacles on the door, I did forget something "…Wait!" Everyone stopped talking and turned to me and Bris, who was still outside the door "I forgot something! There were 2 other Octarians there… But they weren't… like the ones that we saw before."

Nobody said a thing, the man who was talking to me in the beginning stood up with his clipping board, his interest was spiked again but his face didn't look joyful, it just looked urgent "Please, Radiant, go on…"

"They were Octarians, that's without a doubt! But… they didn't have the form of one… um, they were-" I heard a small gasp but I didn't hear the direction, suddenly from behind me someone spoke up "humanoids?" I turned to them and nodded "Yes! That's it! They weren't humanoid!" it was Bristle who had said it, but she didn't look happy on guessing it, she instead looked dreadful

"Octarians… without a human form?" I turned back around nodded to him, giving him a reply as well "Yeah, and they had these weapons that worked exactly as a snipers would" another inkling official in the room walked out, raising his hand "That description fits an Octo Sniper, is that what you are talking about?"

I looked around the room to see who he was talking to until I realized that everyone had their eyes on me "Huh?! M- Me?" he nodded "Yes, you Mister radiant, is that what they were?" his voice felt pressuring and he seemed somewhat urgent for the news, almost as if it depended on his life to know

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't know what an Octo Sniper looks like…" I could tell now that he wanted the information bad, he started to try and make his way over to me "Goggles! Covering its eyes, one is blocked by the laser ri-"

The man with the clip board stood in front of him, in a shielding manner he jested him to move back "Urshin, please, you are overflowing him with too much than he can handle, he wouldn't even know what you are talking about" the man seemed to snap out of it and backed off, standing in his old position next to his colleagues

The man with the clipboard now turned back to me, he was able to keep calm, I could feel everybody else's tenseness "Now, this Octarian you are talking about, did you see a laser and did you know if it had goggles?" I gave a very calm and slow nod "Yes, it did." He nodded back to me and started to write down something else on his paper "Thank you"

He turned back to the rest of the group now, he seemed to be quick and stern "We need to have a meeting immediately, I need all of you to get your executives and if you are on any other board but the safety and concern make sure to be in center hall. This is urgent, I expect to see all of you in… 25 minutes, this session is dismissed"

In a rapid scatter everyone started grabbing their stuff and heading for the door, the leader of the meeting brought us over to the side of the wall where the other Inklings from the game were waiting "Thank you so much Radiant, I honestly don't know where we would be without you" he must have noticed the rest of the Inklings behind me watching as all of the officials as they left the room "You all are free to go, thank you for your time"

Multiple sighs and sounds of annoyance rose up as the Inklings started to walk out towards the center hall, the man turned towards them "Don't forget about your free ice cream waiting for you all at the desk~" he let it ring into a little chime, all the Inklings looked back at him and then suddenly bolted towards head of the building

I started to laugh a bit, I was somewhat surprised when Bristle giggled to, it was nice to see her in her element again, even the leader of the meeting had a small laugh with us until we all calmed down "You all should get going now, I have to go and get ready for this meeting. Watch yourselves out there, okay?" We both nodded and started towards the entrance of the building

It was dark when we got to the outside of the city hall, I hadn't even known what time it was when we first went in the building "What time is it?" I took my phone out with one hand, holding my ice cream in the other _"8:37"_ I just looked at my phone and sighed "We really spent the rest of the day there, didn't we" I heard bristle mumble a _"Yeah"_ as I put my phone away

I started to unwrap my ice cream, it was strawberry red coral-crunch, easily one of my favorite flavors. Getting ice cream after these interviews was one of the cooler thing's about the council, they knew how to treat their guest right "You gotta give it to city hall, they don't only get you ice cream but they get you name brand-"

Mid way though talking I looked over to Bristle, her eyes seemed nearly shut, as if she was tired after staying up for such a long time but she held her head up, staring up into the sky while semi eating her ice cream. Her whole entirety just looked so sad but at the same time peaceful

I stayed quiet after that, just eating my own ice cream and doing the same, I looked up to the sky as well, I hadn't even noticed the moon was out and stars along with it, it was almost a full waltz of stars

"I'm- I'm sorry, Radiant…what were you saying?" I looked back over to her, she was rubbing her hand on her head in relief or something, she really must have not been feeling well, I just smiled towards her, I didn't want her to worry about any of this anymore

"It was nothing, Bris. Come on, let's just enjoy this sky… together." I'm not the best with words, I guess something just told me to add the last part in to let it feel as if she wasn't going in alone, that I would be with her along the way of it all

She just looked at me for a bit, I hoped that she finally saw that this wasn't her fault at all, she smiled a bit gave a very faint and soft nod, together we both stared back up towards the sky

I eventually lost track of time again, we were supposed to be going straight home but instead we took a trip, going around our neighborhood, passing house after house, we just lost ourselves in time and tried to delve ourselves in the moment for as long as we possibly could, it finally came to an end when we started to head down the route to my house

The streets were quiet by this time of night, only some street lights lit the side walk so that people could actually see where they were going, I twirled around my popsicle stick in my hand, trying to think of what to tell my mom when I got in the house, but before that I needed to close out something else

"Bristle, I'll walk you home, its barley any farther from here you know?" she didn't say anything at first, I watched as she turned her gaze towards me, she looked like she wanted to say something again but she wouldn't let herself

"Bristle?" she snapped at the second time she heard me call her "Um- yeah, Radiant, what's up?" there was something wrong, I just knew it. I stopped walking, and as I expected Bristle did as well, I looked back over to her "Bristle… please tell me what's wrong"

Her face looked shocked, she didn't say anything back though so I carried on "At first I thought it was with the turf war, and it may still very well be that but I just want your truthful and honest answer, please just tell me what's wrong!" her eyes grew shameful and I could feel mine pleading, I wanted my friend back, not her covered in a fake persona

"Please…" it was my last plea, if she didn't want to tell me after that it was fine, I wasn't going to put even more on her shoulders than she already had to carry, but before I knew it she took in a deep breath and sighed "Radiant… I…" she fumbled with her hands in front of her "I… I'm-"

An upbeat song started playing, it was from Bristle, she paused and took out her phone, looking down at who it was from, she quickly picked up the call

She didn't take any time to let the other person on the phone talk "I'm still walking-" the rambling on the phone spiked up after hearing what she said

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry I just got caught up-" a tiny bit of rambling cut her off this time, it was very short

"…" she said nothing, and from the faint sound of the phone neither did the caller, her eyes seemed to swell up though, it was hard to see what emotion she was trying to display, unless she was consumed in all of them

The caller started talking again and went on a bit more, it seemed to repeat something then peaked again "Okay… I'm on my way." And she hung up her phone and put it away

Bristle looked at me and I looked at her, I guess I was still waiting for my answer, she started to back away from me "I'm sorry, Radiant, but I have to go, but to answer your question…" she put up a smile "I'm fine, trust me, I'll be back to normal by tomorrow. See you in school!" and then she dashed back down the road we came

I watched her run back down the road, I wanted to grab her and hold her back from running away, talk about timing, I started to think back to my luck of irony before, it made me feel funnily sick, probably because I didn't feel like joking at the moment. All I wanted to know is what was going on…

And something told me deep inside that what she told me wasn't the truth, though I didn't need it to… it was pitifully obvious.

I sighed and placed one hand on my side and one on my forehead "I really hope you are okay… Bristle"

I turned around and started heading towards my house, my mom had to be worried sick about me by now

I walked through the door to see her standing right there, she was emotionless and didn't even flinch when I entered the door "Radiant" she started walking towards me, I got scared at what she was going to do "Mom" I replied before she made her way right in front of me

"So, how many times…" I shut my eyes in brace for a shunning "are you going to go out here…" I had given up at this point, I was ready for _No Turf War for a Week, double chores and…_ and… "…" I still kept my eyes shut, usually she cut me off whenever I got that far on listing my punishments

I felt arms, warp around my body, when I opened up my eyes my mom was hugging me "And risk your life playing a stupid game…" her voice was so soft it nearly made me break into tears, I watched as my mom barely but cried softly onto my shoulder, I hugged her tighter and split a few tears myself

"Mom, I-…" I stopped and gave off a single laugh "I'm just lucky, mom. That's all…" once again I started to lose time, it's different if anybody else was crying but my mom, and over me… I don't know about anyone else but that can send me straight to tears, I was honestly surprised I only split a couple

"Okay now, that's enough" I didn't let go of her "Is this thing broken?" she poked my head repeatedly until my grip loused, I started to snicker but didn't give in, she grabbed onto me next, I tried to squirm free but it was useless "Hello~ anybody there?"

She started to play with my hair, I instantly let go and nearly fell to the floor laughing, trying to crawl away from my mom to get her to stop "That's what I thought. Good grip, kiddo" she flicked her hair as she stood back up "But not good enough for me" well maybe if she didn't cheat and use my hair I would have clapped for her

Because my tentacles are extremely sensitive, tickle done and I'm down for the count

"So, you hungry? Or are you going to just head to bed?" she looked over at the clock "It's 10:11, so it's up to you" I blinked at the time, how long were me and bristle walking for? I figured it was too late to fix anything, I would just make breakfast in the morning

"Nah, I'm just going to go head off to bed, but…" I paused" do you mind telling me how you found out about today?" she snapped a laugh at me "Sure, I'll just tell you about it tomorrow as well" I blinked at her and she fluttered her eyes innocently, yeah, that's my mom

"Whatever" I said in a defeated tone, Istarted heading upstairs to my room until I heard my mom call out after me "Oh yeah! Make sure you set your clock early for tomorrow, you have to bring your sister to school while I stay at home tomorrow" I almost forgot about my sister for some reason, it would be tedious getting her to school and still making it on time but I accepted my task with a simple "Yes, mother"

I carefully walked into my room, my sister was out cold with her laptop nearly leaning off the bed and her headphones tangled up in her, I walked over to her and slowly took the wraping off, almost with placing the laptop safely on the floor and closing it, she went to sleep with all that bright light in her face, eyes, impressive or not

I carefully tucked her in, pulling her covers over her and making sure that she wasn't going to burn up, it was actually pretty warm out. Next I moved onto the clock, I didn't want to get up that early but it seemed as if I didn't have much of a choice "Okay… and six… thirty… five" it clicked after I set it, just to confirm that it had been dialed in

Next… I fell onto my bed, I was tired, and surprised that I have even made it through the whole day, there was no need in bothering to take my clothes off and switch into my normal sleeping gear, I would fall asleep before I even finish

But, I did forget to do one last thing for my sister, I got back up out of bed drowsily, walking over I looked down at her, she slept so gracefully that it nearly made me laugh at how she acted when she was actually awake, I pulled back the ink flowing hair covering her forehead and kissed her on it, I never liked doing it but my sister acted like she loved it. Personaly, I feel that she actually doesn't

Putting on a show for mom is all she really likes it for, and I guess it just grew into a routine, one that I despise with a passion. I started heading back to bed until I noticed that I actually didn't take my shoes off, I flicked them off my heals, maybe it was pay back for the pointless kiss of something or whatever nonsense she calls it, yeah, she gave it a name.

So I laid back down and stared out the window that split our two beds apart, the stars still lingered and the moonlight shined down through our window and lit up the floor. Tomorrow would be the day when I piece together absolutely everything, what I gathered today and what I'll gain tomorrow

I might be out of this whole ordeal for now but I want to know everything I can, with my luck I might just run into them again, and maybe this time I can stop them with not only fighting but reason…

I laughed a bit but stayed quiet enough to make sure I didn't wake up my sister, what did I think I was, a hero? Maybe so, maybe I'll be a hero for just a day, just for the feeling of it all... but who was I kidding? I'm just another kid in turf war that happened to fight against our sworn enemy race, I'm nothing special, as I said earlier, I'm just a lucky draw from the pot

I didn't even pull the covers over me, I just turned towards the moonlight so that something could at least comfort me, so I could see the same moon light in my room that watched over Bristle even when I couldn't, the thought would have given me shivers if I wasn't so sleepy

"Night-Night Big Brother~" the voice was startling, I opened my eyes to see her, my sister drowsily looking over at me, a slim smile on her face, I thought over my previous actions and I bet she was awake the whole time. I had been used.

"Shut up and go to sleep, Kolorz"

 **AN:** Hey, Whats up guys? I return, from a long ranging final battles of lime and pink...

Yes , I speak of none other than Splatoons grand finale, the Grand Waifu Wars **FINAL** **Splatfest...**

Oh, was it a sight to behold.

But yes, I do return! (Though, I never actually left...) This chapter believe or not was actually done by the time the third one for Octo Strike was uploaded and funny enough this has turned into a routine for me. The reason why I don't upload them instantly is so I can review over them and fix things that were either errors or just needed revision for story line reasons or just to smooth out what may be necessary and what may not. So no, I wasn't just sitting here like 'I'm going to watch them burn' I just never went around and properly reviewed the chapter.

I guess there really isn't much more to say... huh? you want to know my team for the Squid Sisters Splatfest? ... Maybe another time

Anways, Radiant and Bristle, Radiants mom and little sister, Kolorz... wait, Kolorz? That a strange name... ***Cough.*** Great, rambling. Well, I'll see you guys next time!

...

 **This games winner is!** ** _MARIE_**

 _(Its bitter to watch you go Splatfest... but on the bright side, good game everybody and stay fresh!)_


End file.
